December 8, 2016

When I first did my initial review of Legion, I hadn't even touched Suramar yet. Now that I think about it, I probably spent the most time in that zone between continuing the story, doing world quest, picking Starflower, or just collecting ancient mana. Before Legion was even announced, I watched the beginning cinematic for the zone and was intrigued by everything about it. I wanted, no, I needed to know more. Once I finally got there, I instantly fell in love with First Arcanist Thalyssra. I wanted to help her and the people that were joining us for refuge. I would even feed them mana daily just because I cared.

That love for the zone slowly began to lessen as I started questing in the city itself. Between demons randomly walking out of buildings, my disguise dropping off, and multiple repeats of following quests, I was beyond frustrated. I even refereed to the questing as "Assassin's Creed copy cat but missed the mark". Maybe I was being too harsh and having a bad day, but thinking back on those quests now, I still don't like them. The one that sticks out in my mind was the quest where you had to follow a guard closely without crossing over into the circle around him. I kept failing on the bridge parts since it was hard to see. Of course after a few tries, I became a pro at it.

As I continued on, I became more powerful, and my adventures in the city became less and less stressful. In fact, I even braved withered training, and I now collect all my mana around the city. Now with the continuation of the story (Insurrection), we are laying the foundation for the release of the Nighthold raid. I've been having so much fun that I really don't want it to end. I've become attached to these characters and their stories. You know things are good when you get emotional over a video game. I'm also curious as to if Suramar City will change after Elisande is defeated in lore. I don't think Blizzard has ever done that before, but I think it would be interesting to see them try it for a change.

I also love places that progress as you go through the story. The Isle of Thunder had to be one of my all time favorites. It told the story through scenarios, which I miss, and as progression went, the entire isle was unlocked little by little. I know it's not exactly the same in this case, but the quests each week are still getting us closer and closer to our main goal. As of right now, we're two more objectives away from completing the achievement, and I've never been more excited for reset each week to see what's going to happen next. If you're behind on this, I definitely suggest getting a start on it. I don't think you'll be disappointed and like me, it may even change your mind on the zone.

November 16, 2016

So eight days after my previous post on the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph, I became the proud owner of one! By some very odd chance, I managed to get lucky and find all of the crystals. The surprising thing out of this was that I wasn't going look for them, but instead complete some world quests to finished getting exalted with the Court of Farondis. The first one was up really close to the road, and with how the servers now seem to be CRZ all the time, I was sure someone else was hot on the trail. So I took a deep breath and decided to have a look anyway. This time I started at around 2:00 in the afternoon.

Location: 60,35

As I said previously, the first one I saw was really close to the road. In fact, it was almost on the road. If you are a tailor, you definitely know the area. It was sitting near the ruins where you find Lyndras. It was one of the previously marked locations I had on my macro, so there wouldn't have been a guessing game with this one.

Location: 41.01,25.59

So after I found the first one, I loaded TomTom and used my macros to show the waypoints. Slowly I started visiting each area, hitting Azurewing Repose first. I looked in the cave and saw nothing, but my next stop was around the perimeter of the pound where I saw the second one sitting, waiting to be clicked on. This was also another location marked. Hitting the second one so soon definitely kept my motivation up.

Location: 38.77,9.27

Next I ran up the road all the way to the top corner of the map. The third crystal was near the rundown fountain by Challiane's Terrace. This was a place I had recently added when I revamped my macro, and I'm glad I did. This one is really out the way, and can definitely be missed as there is no real reason to go to that area.

Here is where I hit a roadblock, once again. I couldn't find the last two. I did numerous circles around the zone, checking all spawn points again and again - nothing. I was beginning to feel let down once again, but my boyfriend gave me a little boost to keep me looking. I took a breather and went to WoWhead. One of the comments there inspired me so I decided to, as suggested, go off the beaten path.

Location: 57.39,16.81

My fourth crystal was at a new spot I didn't have a waypoint for. If the location was previously found, it was rarely new. It was located in the middle of the Ley-Ruins of Zarkhenar. I'm so glad I ran through that area because if I didn't, I would have missed it. I also think this is another place where the crystals can easily blend in, causing your eyes to scan over really fast.

Location: 42.96,28.75

Finally, on to the last one. The last place I decided to check was the area around Doomlord Kazrok as stated in the previous comment. Since that wasn't one I had marked or seen talked about before, I was a bit apprehensive. I was already beginning to feel the claw of defeat until I got there, and the crystal was up, right by the tree. I remember smiling before I gave it one final click...

Ah, sweet victory. This time it didn't take me nearly as long and I completed the entire thing around 3:40. So that's done. To be honest, I wasn't having the greatest of days, but that definitely turned it around. So now that the hunt is over, I can move on to other things. I just hope I won't have to click on any crystals any time soon.

November 10, 2016

Blizzcon is over! I spent two glorious days planted on my couch while watching things on some of my favorite games. You know what, being a couch potato is a lot more difficult than you would think; I'm so achy! Anyway, the only thing I have left to watch is the final Heroes of the Storm match. Then I am completely done. As always, I was surprised and excited over some of the announcements while others left me wanting just a little more. Here I will touch on what I'm excited for in some of my favorite Blizzard games. This is the only time of the year that I really discuss anything other than Warcraft here, so it's always a treat. This is kind of a long one, so I put it under a cut so it won't clutter up my front page.

November 1, 2016

The highly anticipated patch 7.1 was released last week. I had been looking forward to this for two reasons, new things to collect and Karazhan! As with many other people, that raid holds a special place in my heart. Back in BC, it was the first raid I ever set foot in. While clearing the new Kara isn't in my very near future, I've made it my little group's Legion goal to clear it. Due to our limited playtime together, this may take a while before we're in mythics, but once we get there, it will feel great! However, I did enjoy watching some of my favorite streamers run the place, and I was even more excited to see how the community came together once again to figure out how to spawn Nightbane.

This patch has also sparked up my interest in pet collecting again. A new Raiding With Leashes achievement has been added. I love these because I usually make a decent amount of gold selling them the first month or so. This always allows me to purchase rarer missing pets and other things I want. I have no idea why people are always in such a hurry to collect something that will most likely always be in game, but I don't mind as long as their gold is flowing into my pockets! Another thing added were these new World Quests in each zone. These quests allow you to adopt an orphaned falcosaur. The little falcosaur will give you different quests, which eventually leads to these mounts and the new Talon's Vengeance faction. If you're interested, Quintessence has a guide for the mini pets, and WoWhead has a little write-up on the new faction.

I also couldn't finish this post without at least touching on Blizzcon. That's happening this week and like last year, I will be posting a follow up on it once the entire thing is over with, and I had a chance to watch everything. Blizzard already stated that there won't be any news on legacy servers there, and though I'm pro-vanilla servers (you can read my post about that here), I don't mind that this won't be touched on at Blizzcon. I am hoping that we see a little 7.2 preview on what's coming up with Nighthold. I'm also hoping for some new Heroes of the Storm character and mount previews (please make Invincible into a mount, thanks). Finally I am most excited about the buzz surrounding Diablo. Is it going to be a new expansion? A new game? Nothing at all? We really have no idea except that the 20th anniversary is coming up soon so hopefully Blizzard has something in store. Those are the only games I care about in the Blizzard franchise, though I'm sure others will have some great announcements. The good thing is we don't have to wait and speculate much longer. Let the excitement begin!

October 20, 2016

I've been sitting on this blog post since the beginning of the month. The reason I haven't talked about it sooner is that it still feels like a fresh wound. I was so close to something and lost it. Of course it's nothing that important, but for a collector like me, it feels that way. I'm talking about the Reins of the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph. Since the finding of it a while back, every time I'm in Azsuna I take a little time to look. This usually turns out with no findings, but on two separate occasions I've gotten semi lucky.

My first crystal sighting was on September 15th. The crystal findings were still pretty new, and not very many varied locations had been found. I searched all the locations that were discovered and ran around the area, but I had no luck. It bothered me, and the crystal stayed up all day! So I guess no one else was lucky in their findings either. I found that a bit strange, but since it was still new I just dismissed it. Maybe the thing was bugged at the time and only one spawned? Who knows, but it did light a spark!

location: 59,37

I didn't find another crystal until a few weeks later. It was late on a Sunday evening and I had just finished my world quests. I decided to take a little trip to Azsuna before logging off for the night. Then I saw it, sitting perfectly still under the water, damn. I knew I wasn't going to bed any time soon. I was somewhat prepared this time as I had downloaded TomTom and now had some macros for points set. Slowly I started finding them... very slowly. In fact, I started around 10:30 PM and decided to stop looking at around 2:00 AM. I was only able to find 4 out of 5 crystals. So with sore eyes that could barely stay open and a heavy heart, I went to bed.

(mouse over each image for coordinate locations)

So the next morning I reevaluated how I went about things. While checking WoWhead comments I saw that about 30 minutes after I called off my search, someone on my server found all of the crystals and left a comment. I would say that I was happy for them, but I was more disappointed in myself because I was so close to it! Sadly I had not kept up to date with many of the new spawn points. In fact, one of the crystals I found were at one of those locations. Another one of my downfalls was I play with graphics settings all maxed out. This coupled with the tiredness definitely inhibited me from seeing ones that spawn in areas that are very grassy. I know better now, and I won't make the same mistake again.

To be honest, that was the last time I bothered looking for the crystals. Since then, I've been avoiding Azsuna at all cost except for when Court of Farondis is the daily emissary. I think this week I will start up again since I'm beginning to get the itch once more. I know I will get it. I just can't get discouraged, and I must remain patient. Of course once it's mine you can expect another post. This definitely won't be the last time I talk about this one.